Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) a very great lie.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 979/1: from ca. 1860.

(b) a first-rate man or woman, an excellent article, animal or thing.

1838		Bell’s Life in London 26 Aug. 4/1: One of Mr. Mynn’s best balls, technically a ‘ripper’, took the top of the middle stump .
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 40: In conjunction with the above is Miss Emma Watling, a regular ripper.
1852		G.C. Mundy Our Antipodes II 238: More than one of them had been regularly bowled out of the ground by the thirty-two-pounders, like a wicket stump by a ‘ripper’ from Alfred Mynn!
1856		in G.D. Atkin House Scraps (1887) 24: I’ve had such a ripper from A. B. C.!
1857		Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 29 Aug. 2/6: [I]f appearance and coming of a good family are worth anything, she [i.e.a racehorse] should turnout a ripper.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 223/1: The ‘Great and important battle between the two young ladies of fortune,’ is what we calls ‘a ripper’.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 30/1: Ain’t she a ripper? By heavens, what a ‘kick’ full of ‘sugar’ she must carry, eh?
1876		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer 274: If I git to be a reg’lar ripper of a robber, [...] I reckon she’ll be proud.
1883		‘Mark Twain’ Life on the Mississippi (1914) 337: [of an explosion] That was a ripper!
1886		M.E. Kennard Girl in the Brown Habit I 77: By Jingo! she’s a regular ripper, and no mistake.
1890		H. Fludyer Letters 2: We went [...] to the Alhambra in the evening, and saw a strong man. He’s a ripper!
1899		Boy’s Own Paper 17 June 610: My new boat is a ripper!
1900		Marvel XIV:348 July 1: This ’ere yarn ain’t half a ripper!
1904		B.L. Farjeon Amblers 285: Ain’t she a ripper?
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 22 Sept. 1/1: A burly flat bookmaker is reckoned a ripper by his pals.
1910		Wodehouse Gentleman of Leisure Ch. ix: ‘Did you see the girl I was with at the Savoy?’ ‘Yes,’ said Jimmy. ‘She’s a ripper,’ said Lord Dreever, devoutly.
1915		Magnet Library 25 Sept. 2: From what I’ve heard it must be a ripper.
1919		‘Bartimeus’ ‘The Wooing of Mouldy Jakes’ in Awfully Big Adventure 7: Our governess. She’s a perfect ripper.
1933		J.B. Booth Pink Parade 34: Here, I say, you fellows, I’ve made a splendid joke; come and listen to it! Isn’t it a ripper!
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 109: ‘Good letter, Chips?’ A gurgle. ‘It’s a ripper!’.
1963		Canberra Times (ACT) 16 Aug. 42: Moonee Valley 12.20 1st Ailsa H’Cap [...] 00 LITTLE RIPPER 4 G. Gibb.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 78: What a bloody ripper. Dat stopped ya Wrecker.
1972		J. Wambaugh Blue Knight 267: He was a ripper [...] A handsome dog. Loved his food and drink and women.
1980		Aus. Women’s Wkly 22 Oct. 146s/3: Hogan’s next show goes on air on October 22 [...] And it is a ripper.
1986		R.G. Barrett Real Thing 22: It’ll still be a good night. A ripper in fact .
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 44: Ripper: An expression of joy. If someone shouts, ‘You little ripper’, it means that his horse has won the race.
1992		R.G. Barrett Davo’s Little Something 47: Tonight promised to be a ripper of a concert.
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 216: little ripper general term of praise and approbation.
2003		www.thepantsman.com 🌐 This is the main event. The previous episode was merely a dress rehearsal. This one is a ripper.
2015		N. Cummins Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] I had just been given the opportunity to fulfil my life-long dream of catching a shark. You ripper!
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 351: ‘Oh, mate. You don’t know? It’s [i.e. a business rivalry] a ripper.’.

(c) an attractive young woman.

1846		Swell’s Night Guide 40: In conjunction with the above is Miss Emma Watling, a regular ripper.
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 31: [He] leads out from her retirement by the wall a tall, square-shouldered ‘ripper’.
1879		‘’Arry on the River’ in Punch 9 Aug. 57/1: We see a swell boat with three ladies, sech rippers, in crewel and buff.
1905		Sporting Times 1 Apr. 3/4: And that poor lady, the beautiful countess—Gad! she’s a ripper!

(d) Aus. in neg. use of sense 1, something acutely annoying.

1986

R.G. Barrett Real Thing 44: What a bloody ripper [...] Three hundred [dollars] straight down the drain.

(a) a murderer who specializes in mutilation, often for sexual purposes.

[1890		Pall Mall Gazette 7 Mar. 5/1: A Jack the Ripper outrage at Moscow].
1890		Cornishman 18 Dec. 7/5: Jean-the-Ripper. A returned convict named Lacassin, shot his wife [...] and ripped her body open with a knife.
1894		Leeds Times 17 Nov. 8/2: American Rippers [...] The series of extraordinary murders in Denver [etc.].
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 209/2: Ripper, daring murderer of women.
1931		Dundee Courier 3 July 7/2: [headline] German Ripper’s Execution.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

(b) in attrib. use of sense 2.

1891		Hartlepool Mail 15 May 3/4: The sensational Ripper murder in New York City.
1903		Sheffield Dly Teleg. 5 Oct. 8/3: A Ripper Murder [...] The mutilated body of a hop picker named Mary Swinburne [...] was found [...] The neck and trunk were terribly hacked about.
1909		Western Times 19 Feb. 16/3: Another Ripper outrage in Berlin. Another stabbing outrage was perpetrated on a young girl [etc.].
1921		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 16 Mar. 3/5: ‘Ripper’ Crime [...] the victim was killed by what criminal experts call the ‘ripper’ methods [...] The ripper then proceeded to mutilate the body.
1930		Nottingham Eve. Post 24 Oct. 1/2: The judicial examination of Peter Kuerten, [...] arrested for the Dusseldorf ‘Ripper’ murders.

(c) (UK und.) a violent blow.

1899

Sketch (London) 22 Feb. 18: ‘Another o’ the crowd catches ’im a ripper be’ind’ .

(d) (US prison) a rapist.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Ripper: Rapist. (CT).